Newly minted Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford took most of the ridings in Tory-dominated Southwestern Ontario, the party’s power base, in his run for the party’s top job just eight weeks before the province’s voters will be plunged into an election campaign.

Six of the 10 ridings in the London region — home to one-quarter of the party’s seats in the legislature — went to Ford, a populist with no seat in the legislature, in final ballot voting by party members.

Former MPP Christine Elliott, widely seen as the establishment candidate, took four ridings.

Farther afield in Southwestern Ontario, in the Windsor and Brantford areas, it was the same result — Ford over Elliott, who was taking her third stab at the PC leadership.

But Ford, who vows “relief is on the way” from 15 years of Liberal rule, and that Kathleen Wynne’s “days are numbered as premier,” fell short against Elliott in key urban ridings, including in London — turf that analysts say the Tories must regain to break out of their rural base and win the June 7 election.

A good read for people (of whom there seem to be a lot) baffled by Elliott winning the popular vote and the most ridings and still losing. https://t.co/QQFu4D66bh

On Monday, as the riding-by-riding results of the chaotic Tory leadership race fanned out, Wynne said she and Ford — a former Toronto city councillor and failed 2014 mayoral candidate — will provide a “stark” choice in the weeks ahead.

“Mr. Ford and I disagree on a lot of things,” she said. “I think what we are putting forward as a platform is very, very different than what any of the Conservatives were putting forward, which is cutting and removing supports from people.”

One veteran political analyst and close follower of the PCs says he’s not surprised by Ford’s appeal, especially in rural and working-class areas where he says the attraction is reminiscent of Donald Trump’s appeal in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“In some ways, this is like Donald Trump. It’s not the messaging that’s similar, but the way the messages are delivered,” said Peter Woolstencroft, a retired University of Waterloo political scientist.

“There are people who have got all kinds of anger and disquietude with the provincial government. He’s coming through saying all the smart people at Queen’s Park have messed up things and ordinary people know that there are better ways to do things.”

Ford won the Tory leadership, becoming Ontario opposition leader, by narrowly beating out Elliott, who first questioned the weekend results before conceding nearly a full day later.

“We’re moving forward on a united front,” Ford said Monday. “We can’t wait to take on Kathleen Wynne and start putting money back into taxpayers’ pocket.”

Over the course of the leadership campaign, Ford repeatedly vowed to wrest control of the party from elites and give a voice to the grassroots members. He also touted his experience running the Ford family’s label-making business, saying it had prepared him to run an efficient government.

“We’re going to reduce hydro rates, start attracting great-paying jobs and business,” he told reporters on Monday. “We’re going to go down to the border and put that great big neon sign I’ve been talking about — ‘Ontario’s open for business.’ ”

In the 10-riding London region, Ford carried Elgin-Middlesex-London, London-Fanshawe, Chatham-Kent-Leamington, Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Oxford and Sarnia-Lambton. In London-Fanshawe, he beat out Elliott by 19 percentage points.

Elliott, however, prevailed by wide margins in urban London North Centre and London West.

To the east, in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, the two split four ridings in closer contests, including one that Elliott took by a single vote.

Ford’s strong London-region showing came without any declared endorsements by the area’s seven Tory MPPs.

“He’s a bit of an outsider,” said Woolstencroft. “When he meets (the PC) caucus, and that will happen soon . . . he will know that hardly anybody in that room supported him.”

Two of the London region’s Tory MPPs had backed Elliott, three others endorsed third-place finisher Caroline Mulroney and two — Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson, the caucus chairperson, and Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls, a deputy speaker of the legislature — wouldn’t publicly say whom they were supporting.

Besides London North Centre and London West, Ford fell short of Elliott in two other area ridings — rural Huron-Bruce and Perth-Wellington, the Stratford-area riding.

Ford’s wins in ridings like Oxford — solidly PC since 1995, but where recent factory closings have cost jobs — shouldn’t be a shock, Woolstencroft said.

“The loss of manufacturing is continuing, it’s going on and on and on. People are angry about it, so who do you blame?” he said.

Building on that anger to mobilize voters could pave Ford’s way to power, Woolstencroft said.

Woolstencroft said Ford not only needs to be a team-builder inside and outside his caucus as the election nears, but also come up with platform, heal a party ravaged by turmoil at the top and win over skeptical voters.

“Most opposition leaders are unknown quantities before the election starts. He’s not an unknown quantity and his negatives are terrible. His negatives are like somebody who has been in office for two elections,” he said. “People are unhappy with him before he’s even made any decisions.”

The leadership race was triggered by former leader Patrick Brown’s abrupt resignation in late January amid unproven allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied.

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